Rome 21 September, 2011 – An exciting “out-of-the-box” event — the Second Global AgriKnowledge Share Fair — jointly organized by Bioversity International, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and the World Food Programme (WFP) will be held at IFAD headquarters from 26-29 September 2011.

Food security, price volatility, climate change, information technology for development, social media, knowledge sharing and green innovations will be key topics at this four-day event that will provide a forum to learn and share knowledge, experience and innovations on emerging trends and related rural development issues.

The Share Fair promises to deliver a wealth of knowledge, with over 160 presenters from all over the world who will share their creative and innovative experiences and knowledge. Participants will have an opportunity to learn, share, connect and influence future directions.

Leaders from the organizing agencies will address the inaugural session on Tuesday, 27 September at 10 a.m. including:

“Demystifying public-private-partnership: An experience from the field”. Speaker: Mark Davies

29 Sept. 9:30 a.m.

Session on “How good of an ally are social media tools for 21st century development workers?”

Social media

IFAD encourages participants and journalists to use social media channels and report live from the event. Join IFADNews on Twitter and on our Facebook page. When tweeting, please use the following hashtags:

#sfrome

The organizational ones are:

#ifad – Twitter account @ifadnews

#unfao – Twitter account @faonews

#wfp – Twitter account @wfp

#bioversity

When quoting IFAD President, use @knwanze

When quoting other IFAD officials, use #ifad and the person’s last name

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) works with poor rural people to enable them to grow and sell more food, increase their incomes and determine the direction of their own lives. Since 1978, IFAD has invested over US$12.9 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering more than 370 million people to break out of poverty. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome – the United Nation’s food and agricultural hub. It is a unique partnership of 166 members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developing countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).